The chicken-hawk Fox News Network has forced the Bill Clinton/Chris Wallace interview video off YouTube.com, claiming copyright violations.
A few minutes ago I went to see for myself what all the fuss was about regarding Bill Clinton's interview last Sunday with Chris Wallace on Fox News. I had seen a few selected excerpts, and I had read that Clinton had finally stood up and blasted both Bush and Fox, and I wanted to see the whole thing for myself.
But when I went to YouTube.com to see it, I got this notice: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Fox News Network, LLC because its content was used without permission."
What a lame cop-out by Fox News! This Neo-Conservative/Bush-Whitehouse mouthpiece, pretending to be a fair and objective news source, is apparently so afraid that this video will make them look foolish, that they are willing to suppress the news in order to keep the truth from being widely revealed!
The Copyright Laws have a specific exemption for high-value news stories such as this:
"Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." - from United States Code 17:107
Yes, Fox could claim that this use of their material was not "Fair Use" because it was too extensive. But we could argue that it is necessary to see the whole interview in order to fully understand it, and that this necessity gives us the right of Fair Use in this important and controversial case, for "criticism and comment," in the Public Interest.
But even if Fox News is correct in their infringement claim, they can still make it legal to see, by granting their permission.
So here is my challenge to Fox News: Please give permission for this video to be seen, or else explain why you are violating the Public's legitimate rights of "criticism and comment," by hiding behind the Copyright laws.
Continuing along this same line of reasoning, I think that one of the very first things the Democrats should do after retaking control of Congress is to re-instate the "Fairness Doctrine" in news broadcasting.
The Fairness Doctrine is a former policy of the United States's Federal Communications Commission. It required broadcast licensees to present controversial issues of public importance, and to present such issues in an honest, equal and balanced manner.
The Republican-controlled Federal Communications repealed most of the Fairness doctrine in 1987.
The United States Supreme Court had previously upheld the Constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in saying, "A license permits broadcasting, but the licensee has no constitutional right to be the one who holds the license or to monopolize a...frequency to the exclusion of his fellow citizens. There is nothing in the First Amendment which prevents the Government from requiring a licensee to share his frequency with others.... It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount." - U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 1969.
Rev. Bill McGinnis is an Internet Christian minister, writer and publisher. He is Director of LoveAllPeople.org, a small private think tank in Alexandria, Virginia, and all of its related websites, including InternetChurchOfChrist.org,CommitteeForTheGoldenRule.org,CivicAmerican.com, and AmericanDemocrat.net. His agenda is to help maximize the happiness and well-being of all people. His blog is located at http://blog.myspace.com/revbillmcginnis
While they didn't show the entirety of the interview with Mr. Clinton, The Daily Show on Comedy Central did show the exerpt with Mr. Clinton giving it to Wallace with both barrels. They also showed the grungy underbelly of Fox News and CNN by showing "reporters" who only reported on the fact that Mr. Clinton was "combattive" in the interview. They didn't show the interview, nor did they make commentary on whether or not there was true justification for Mr. Clinton's anger with Wallace.
No, it's not the full interview, but you get the general idea.
I think it's a travesty that Fox News would deny YouTube the right to show the interview. However, it's par for their course. They don't report news. They don't report facts. They don't report, PERIOD!
They spew spin at every turn. They promulgate lies and misinformation because they know (as do all Neo-cons) that the truth will make them look bad.
Comedy Central usually rebroadcasts the previous episode of The Daily Show around six PM Eastern time. You might want to check your cable or satellite for when it will show again. No, it's not the whole interview, but I think you can connect the dots from what is shown.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 1:29:35 PM
DailyShow doesn't touch substance of Clinton's remarks
I love the Daily Show. Most of the time it cuts closer to the truth than any corporate "news" show, but don't fall into the stooo'pid trap of thinking that it can ever substitute for source information and real journalism like that practiced by Democracy Now!, NOW on PBS, and stories on Media Matters for America.
I love the Daily Show because it regularly transforms sad situations and the foibles of terrible people into reasons for laughter and ridicule instead of just tears and anger. Unfortunately their cut-up bit about the two Bill Clinton's did not do justice to the substantive explanations of the bombing of the USS Cole and the lack of certification from the CIA regarding who was culpable. The righteous anger he expressed at Wallace's one-sided and leading questions was partially portrayed by the Daily Show, but it is instructive for all to see how he was baited by interruptions to raise his voice just so he could finish his responses to the loaded questions.
Go for the sources, dig deeper, ask how they know, ask why, look for the real motivations, and follow the money.
by
Tim Riley (7 articles, 4 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 123 comments)
on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 4:36:57 PM
Boy howdy, I followed the above link to the actual interview (or most of it anyway), and you are SOOOOO right! The Daily Show only got the barest bit of the interview.
Now that I have seen the whole thing, all I can say is, if you mess with the bull, you get the horns! Talk about a set-up job. I am even MORE impressed now than I was in reading the news story, and seeing the bits on The Daily Show.
How on earth could Wallace expect that Mr. Clinton wouldn't slap him down, and with a resounding thud I might add? I think that Mr. Clinton's perception of a "conservative hit job" was right on the money.
Also, I might add, I didn't see the interview as combattive. If anything, I saw it as Wallace thinking he would be able to embarrass Mr. Clinton, and when that tactic didn't work, he tried, as Neo-cons ALWAYS do, to change the subject. If there was any combat at all, it was Wallace trying to combat his way out of hearing the truth. We all know the Neo-cons can't deal with the truth.
The Daily Show, to my mind, is an excellent source for spin removal. I know their primary focus is to lampoon the political scene, but in that lampooning, they sometimes uncover some pretty radical truths. I usually watch ABC evening news, or read Yahoo news (the usual source for articles I quote in my own writings here and on my blog). On rare occasion, I'll flip to CNN Headline News for a quick news fix. Usually when I am there, I am more concerned with the news ticker at the bottom of the screen than I am with the crap that's being said.
Anyway, I still love Bill Clinton, and now that I have seen this interview in a more complete fashion, I can say I have even more love and respect for him.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 2:00:45 AM
While the Clinton years brought us NAFTA, massive welfare cuts that the poor could ill afford and the selling out of the Democratic Party you gotta give old Bill the credit he deserves as a master of the debate.
This also highlights what coulda, should and woulda been done to the GOP neoconservative cause had the gutless democrats campaigned with the truth.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 8:33:43 PM
